After running a solid qually lap of 27.3 on my 3rd lap, I began the race well, and easily built a huge lead after 2 laps, thanks to a few mistakes from the front runners combined with a 27.1 2nd lap, but the following lap I almost spun at the chicane, which brought the field back to me, knuckled down again and built up a solid lead, but I was chewing up the tires too much, especially my right rear. With nicko bearing down on me, I simply had to focus on making it difficult for him, and in the last 10 laps I found some consistent mid 29 laps that seemed to match nicko's pace at that stage, so the gap was hovering at around 1.5-1.0 sec, after negotiating a few back marker overtakes, it was simply a matter of doing what was needed to avoid crashing as the right rear was fairly critical, nicko gave me a breather to start the last lap and my nerves held off to take the checkered flag! Thoroughly enjoyable wet race, cya's next week.
Well done Dan , fantastic qualy and race pace and also well done Nicko for pushing him all the way but jst probably ran out of tyres in the end. I came into the race knowing I wouldn't be able to challange for the victory on pace because I always like to drive the car as straight as possible, but maybe just maybe I could win on strategy. So that's what I did. Surprisingly starting the race from 3rd my strategy was to conserve the righ side tyres as much as possible for the 1st 10 laps. After 9 laps I was about 9 seconds back from Dan and now matching his times, but shortly after I went too deep into turn 1 and slid into the gravel, losing 5 seconds to now be behind alfa in 4th. What followed was a fantastic little battle for the next 15 laps. I could see that he was sliding his car a lot which helped me close right up to him and eventually move back into 3rd, however the next lap I'm in the gravel again and have to do all that work once more. The second was much easier, as I assume his tyres were completely gone and I eventually brought the car home for a solid podium result.
Ugh. That sucked. I paid the price for talking up my chances as I'm often quick in the wet, but I should have practiced more. Considering I was doing 27's in practice in the weeks leading up, to not come close to getting a 27 was a big let down. I really struggled in qualifying, considering I lost a lap when I had to answer the phone, I was relieved to get up to 4th on the grid, my best Div 1 qualifying effort in a long time. However the start was poor and Nicko rocketed past me. We made things difficult for each other on the back straight after I put a wheel on the grass and bumped him. I tried to keep up with the leading pack while Dan romped away, but I caught a huge amount of understeer on lap 3(?) and then spun at turn 5. It was hard to get back into a rhythm with Razor and Pringles chopping at my tail. But, I eventually caught Beau and regained 5th. In hindsight, I should have cut my losses and nursed the car to the end as on pure pace, I was faster than Beau, but I had destroyed the tyres in my efforts to catch up to him and the alfa Warrior duel. Things turned sour after an embarrassing spin at the hairpin on lap 17, in which the car pathetically spun on an axis. It felt like a Codemasters auto spin kerb but however I had only myself to blame. As a result, Beau re-passed me, and because my tyres were heavily worn, it was impossible to catch up. The next 13 laps were extremely tedious trying to get the thing home. Pringles performed the opposite strategy with a pit stop and was bearing down on me, but I just held on for a disappointing 6th. The fact that Alfa and Beau were separated by millimetres at the end served as a final kick in the balls as without my stupid errors, 4th would surely have been mine. Moving on from this disaster, the spring round should be awesome fun, a great track and not a hint of nursing the car, I can't wait! Cheers, Jono.
Sorry guys that I had to leave. Internet was playing silly buggers and for some reason when I came back into the room after resetting, I had absolutely no grip I was really looking forward to racing after my life revolved around time trials for the past few weeks but internet finally said no deal First race was looking like a cracker throughout the field, will be waiting on results and hopefully a podium finish for Jono maybe
Race 1: Pole: Dan, FL also. I'll need someone to upload the lap times as in my excitement I forgot to save the replay Race 2: FL: Nicko
Warrior 1:15:747 N64 1:15:996 TRL_Holl 1:15:304 BeauA 1:16:278 Pringles 1:16:240 Razor 1:16:596 Nick 1:16:054 TB 1:17:722 Fastboy 1:17:218 Mint (DSC lap 6) 1:16:416
